Rinse
by kismet-wayfinder
Summary: Oneshot. Harry/Hermione. At Ginny's wedding to Harry, the latter shares a dance with one of his best friends. But is there more to it? As suspicion fades away to nothingness, amidst announcements & proposals anew, Hermione & Harry are left feeling lost.


**I certainly don't own the HP franchise/books/films/et. al.  
><em>Just to note, fellow fanfic author Romantic Silence's story "The Last Dance" re-inspired a previous idea I'd had for a fic like this, and I suggest people go and read it anyway just because it's a really good fic. Anyway, thanks for reading! <em>  
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><p>The toasts had all been made. Jinxed candles, lit with tiny lavender flames, floated mid air all about the Callah Lily adorned room. Tables carved from stone were sat in semi-circles near the center of the vast and decorated room, centerpieces of candlelit globes and magically hovering glitter bringing them in with the rest of the scenery, making it all fit beautifully together as the newly married couple stepped out onto the nearby dance floor. Having just exchanged vows and a chaste kiss, Mr. and Mrs. Harry James Potter swept onto the floor in the midst of the room arm-in-arm, before the Mister spun his new wife, Ginny, about, and thus began their first dance.<p>

After a few moments of twirling and swaying about alone as a couple, Ron inevitably led Hermione onto the dance floor, as well, followed by Arthur and Molly, then Luna leading a startled Neville onto the floor, and then pretty much any other takers joined in, as well. It was a beautiful song that played, an oldie but goodie, and Ginny looked positively radiant as she was spun about in her ivory gown, her cheeks rosy, eyes glistening.

Soon enough though, the song had come to an end. Despite a few of the couples retiring to either the buffet tables or champagne cart after this first song alone, the newlyweds remained on the dance floor, as did a few others. Eventually though, after a good five or six songs, the dancing had mulled down into mingling and merrily conversating amongst those present, both on and off the dance floor.

"You do look positively glowing," Hermione said to Ginny, giving her a small smile.

"Thank you," the redhead replied, her rosy cheeks still red as ever as she absentmindedly twirled a piece of her own curled-for-the-ocassion hair. "You look _lovely_, too."

"Yeah, doesn't she?" Ron piped in, causing Hermione to look at him and smile too, before turning her attention to Harry, who was idly sipping from a crystal goblet.

"Well, you don't look too bad yourself, Mr. Potter," she said to him, not wanting him to be left out, and he, in turn, raised his eyebrows while lowering the goblet. "Why, thank you, Hermione. And, in turn, you all look lovely. The whole lot of you. _You_, my beautiful wife, well you're always being beautiful, aren't you? And you Ron, look absolutely _dashing_-"

"Oh, shut up, Harry."

"-and you, Hermione, look wonderful tonight, too. In fact, that periwinkle reminds me of the dress you wore to the Yule Ball back in our fourth year."

Averting her eyes to the side as she felt a bit of heat rush to her cheeks, Hermione found herself caught off guard. It wasn't that Harry had a particularly bad memory or anything, but the fact that he called her out on wearing the same shade of dress she'd worn years earlier surprised her a bit.

"Yes, I also wore periwinkle to the Yule Ball. You're right," she finally said to him, in a bit of an awkward tone, before looking over to Ron who said, "Meh, that night wasn't so great, now was it? What with Krum trying to steal my girl away."

"Well, she wasn't exactly_ stolen_ as she was practically handed over, given that you didn't think to _ask_ her before _he_ did," Ginny piped in, giving her brother a scathing look.

Sighing and waving a hand in response, Ron shrugged as he said, "Bloke still had no business taking my Hermione to that dance."

Closing her eyes, Hermione shook her head a bit.

"What?" Ron said to her, before reaching to the nearby table to pick up his own glass of champagne he'd started in on moments beforehand. "You're my girl, aren't you?"

"Sure," the brown-eyed young woman said simply. "I'm… your girl. You certainly have a way with words, don't you, Mr. Weasley?"

Rolling his eyes, Ron replied, "I'm not trying to offend you. Honest. I was trying to make you feel… I dunno, flattered, maybe?"

Feeling a bit guilty for her sarcasm then, Hermione placed a hand at his side, saying, "I know. You do make me feel flattered, Ronald."

"Good to know," he replied, and he shared a look with Harry that seemed to express he was genuinely relieved to hear he hadn't offended his girlfriend.

"Why don't I go and have a little chat with Ron now?" Harry then suggested, placing his goblet down to fidget with his wrist cuffs instead. "He and I just applied for jobs at the Ministry the other week after all, as you both know; don't you want to go and chat about how you think the process is going along, Ron?"

"Oh, uhm, sure, Harry," the ginger replied nonchalantly, shrugging, before placing his goblet down back to the table and following his best mate off to have the said chat about work.

"I'm so proud of them, going to work for the ministry," Ginny said to Hermione, watching the boys as they walked away. "Weren't you going to apply there, too?"

"I was, sure," Hermione answered her, dropping her gaze down to her own champagne glass. "Ron didn't seem to like the idea."

"Why on earth not?" Ginny replied, genuinely surprised.

"Oh, well, I don't think he'll mind me having a career there in the end or anything, he just said he wanted me to wait a bit. Do you know, to be honest, I think he's been planning to propose to me."

"Oh, _really_?" Ginny said, her eyes lighting up impossibly further as she broke into an all-out grin.

Returning the smile partially, Hermione gave a nod, before lowering her voice and explaining: "The other week, when we were watching the Ministry recruiter video, he sort of randomly mentioned that he thought maybe it was a bit too dangerous still, for me to join at the moment. When I laughed at this, and pointed out the hell we all went through and survived, he admitted it made little sense, and changed tactic. _'Well maybe a man should hold a job before his wife does'_ he says to me. Not that I am his wife, but he used that word: _wife_. I can't imagine it means much else other than he's planning on getting that job, proposing to and marrying me, and then being more open to me taking on a career at the ministry."

"Wow," Ginny replied simply, before looking back over to her brother and husband, who were huddled together, deep in discussion. "I wonder how and where and when he's planning to propose?"

Over near the other side of the room, Harry and Ron were indeed discussing something, but it wasn't work.

"Seriously, mate," Potter was saying to Weasley. "I know, she knows, we all know you're not actively trying to infuriate Hermione. I know you're nuts about her. It's just the way you speak to her. I dunno, I think she needs to be spoken to in a different way. Then she'd be less tempted to become offended."

"Well jeez, Harry, what am I supposed to do? Take a course in Muggle language technique? Gentleman's etiquette? I mean, Bill had no trouble getting Fleur, and if there was ever a girl that seemed to need to be impressed-"

"That," Harry said, interrupting him. "That right there. Your assumptions. We've known Hermione since we were really little. What's there to impress? We all love each other, we're all best friends. We know each other inside and out. Just try to stop sounding like you own her, I guess. Saying things like 'my girl'."

"Lavender liked it."

"Okay, and is Hermione Granger an _iota_ like Lavender Brown?"

Shaking his head at once, Harry then said, "Exactly. So come on, let's go back then, Ron. Another slow song's starting up."

"Actually, I have to go get something real quick, Harry," Ron said to him. "But I'll be back in a minute."

"Oh, okay then," the bespectacled young man replied, before returning over to Ginny and Hermione, just as the former of the two young women was walking away.

"Ginny just stepped away to the ladies' room," Hermione explained as Harry approached her.

"Well that's okay," he said, offering his hand to his old friend. "We can just dance instead."

Biting down a bit on her lip as she grinned, Hermione slowly reached out to accept Harry's offered hand, before letting him lead her out onto the dance floor. "Alright," she said as they went.

The song playing was a fairly newer one, and was quite popular at that. It told a story about Romeo and Juliet, and had a really endearing vibe to it. It was a personal favorite of Hermione's, and she didn't hesitate to make that clear as she really got into the song, letting Harry twirl her about.

As the song reached the first chorus, the pair brought both their hands together, fingers interlocking as they slowly turned on the spot, eyes locked, before releasing their respective grasps and individually turning, and then reclasping hands as Harry pulled Hermione in toward him; soon his arm was around her waist as they turned and swayed, her head resting on his shoulder.

Returning from the ladies' room, Ginny paused as she caught the sight of a couple stealing the spotlight in the center of the dance floor. Another second later, and she realized it was Harry twirling a different girl around. One more second later, and it clicked that he was twirling Hermione about. Smiling, she looked on to the scene at first with an endearing, fond gaze. It was a beautiful sight to see two old friends dancing together so merrily.

Back on the dance floor, as the chorus picked up again, the music's refrain growing a bit faster, Harry placed his hands at Hermione's waist, lifting her up and twirling with her in the air, before dropping her back down and instead wrapping his arms around her entirely, hugging her into the second spin as she hung her arms around his neck.

Feeling a strange sensation prick at the back of her neck as she watched this, Ginny barely had time to frown before the couple on the dance floor had broken apart yet again, slowly turning side by side, though no longer touching. The hairs on the back of her neck relented their prickling, and Ginny's frown relaxed. And then the song drew to a close, and the newlywed couldn't help but find herself feeling surprised and altogether concerned as she witnessed what she did with her own two eyes, on her very wedding day, of all days:

As the last few hurried notes were reaching their natural climatic sound, Harry gave Hermione one last spin, before lifting her up and into his arms, embracing her so closely that his lips brushed against the side of her neck. It was then that, for a very fraction of a second, Ginny _swore_ she saw his lips linger just enough for a bit of a kiss. As the song ended and the couple broke apart in sincerity, the redhead found herself with a lump in her throat, an inexplicable rush of blood pulsating throughout her veins. Surely she'd imagined what she'd seen, right? Surely her husband didn't kiss his best friend on his wedding day.

Quickly looking around at everyone else who'd been watching them dance, Ginny's brown eyes searched for other possible looks of astonishment or outrage, or even mild dismay; any sign that correlated with what she thought she certainly saw. However, there were no such looks to be spotted, and she was soon distracted anyway, by her youngest brother approaching her, having come back into the room from being outside.

Back at the dance floor, Harry and Hermione stood just a few inches apart, not speaking, barely daring to look each other in the eye. The song had unleashed something in them, rendering it unkempt at best, and glaringly obvious at worst. They themselves had been surreptitiously stealing glances at faces, needing to know that no one else had caught on to what exactly had happened between them, especially there at the end, and _especially_ since they themselves dared to believe it had actually happened.

The spot where Harry's lips had touched her neck was still burning, almost painfully so, as an ache wracked Hermione's heart, threatening to bring tears to her eyes. Why today, of all days, should her feelings decide to quake her so badly? She and he had very nearly come close enough to realizing all this before, during their time alone together on the run before the defeat of the Dark Lord. Then Ron had returned, and things had stalled between them, never resolving themselves in any proper way at all. It was as if something had formed between them, and had remained there, while they both separately danced around it, one straying to Ginny, the other straying to Ron, possibly frightened to really enter the realm they'd discovered while on their own, actually alone and together at the same time.

But this evening, no, they'd definitely crossed that line, and returned again, only to realize that they'd crossed it at the wrong place, at the wrong time, around all the wrong people. They both individually knew it, but couldn't say so, not to each other, nor to anyone else. And so, finally, they simply shared a curt nod with one another, before turning to face Ginny and Ron as the latter called out to them both, asking them to come over to them.

"What is it?" Hermione asked in a strangely shrill voice, quickly stepping over to Ron as Harry himself returned to Ginny's side.

"I have an announcement to make," the tall, gangly ginger said with a crooked sort of grin, and Hermione's eyes widened as she stared over to Harry, wanting for him to desperately say something, anything, to stop what was obviously and inevitably about to happen.

"I have an announcement to make, too," Ginny said then, and Hermione blinked, looking over to the petite ginger instead.

"You do?" Hermione and Ron asked in unison, before giving each other glances, and then looking back to the newly wedded young woman.

"Yes, I do," Ginny said, arching an eyebrow slightly as she smiled faintly, blindly reaching for and squeezing Harry's hand as she said so; at this, an infuriatingly obvious blush of red broke out across the bridge of Hermione's nose and her cheeks, as well; it was an angry, jealous, blush, and she quickly turned her face away to hide it - what was she going to do with herself?

Thankfully for the brown-haired girl, Ginny herself had looked away, reaching for a champagne glass and a small spoon from a nearby table, before gently tapping the latter against the former, creating a ringing sound that eventually caught nearly everyone's attention.

"Yes, dear?" Molly Weasley said at last, approaching her daughter. "You have something you need to say?"

"Yes, Mum, I do," the redhead said with an eager nod, before placing the glass and spoon down once more.

"Alright then, quiet everyone!" Bill called out, standing nearby, arm-in-arm with Fleur, their young daugther, Victoire, standing nearby them as well, drinking pumpkin juice from a small goblet. "My sister has an announcement to make, it seems!"

"Thank you, Bill," Ginny said to him with a bright smile, before clearing her throat and growing a bit red in the cheeks, gathering up her nerve to make her announcement.

It took Hermione seconds to put the pieces together then, as she slowly turned to look back to the redhead: Ginny hadn't sipped the first sup of champagne all night; she hadn't had any of the sushi, either; with bated breath, Hermione closed her eyes, waiting to hear the one, final factor that would glue Harry to Ginny's side for now and forever more.

"Thank you for coming to mine and Harry's wedding, everyone," Ginny began, smiling at everyone who looked back at her with expectant looks on their faces. "But I know you've all heard a dosey of speeches all night, so I'll just get to the point with this… Everyone, friends, family: I am expecting. I just discovered so earlier today, actually." Then turning to her surprised husband, she added, "We're having a baby, Harry."

Awes and gasps and clutters of applause soon filled the room, and Hermione was left feeling deafened as she stood alongside a roaring Ron, who was reaching out to pat Harry on the shoulder in a congratulatory way, while Molly and Arthur approached their only daughter, taking her in their arms in turn to hug her. The tears that had threatened Hermione earlier didn't care to keep their proper time and place anymore, and now freely spilled from her eyes, rolling down cheeks that were no longer red, but now startling pale.

"You alright, Hermione?" she heard a distant-sounding voice say to her, before wiping away at her blurry eyes to look and see none other than Harry standing nearer to her, concern in his own eyes as he looked back at her.

"Yes, I'm just so happy for you both," she said automatically, continuing to wipe away at her eyes until Harry offered her a kerchief from his own front pocket; it was a sentiment that made her want to cry even more, but she felt that that might be quite impossible at the rate her tears were already falling.

"Are you sure?" he asked her, his hand touching the crook of her elbow, and as he did so, she felt the blood and heat rush into her face again; the accursed blush had returned, and if Harry would not let her be, Hermione feared it might never leave her face ever again.

"I'm sure I'm okay," she said, somewhat reluctantly moving her arm away from his touch.

But to Harry, he didn't read her actions as reluctant, and he instead felt a bit stung as his friend jerked her arm away from his hand. He also felt troubled and conflicted over the fact that Hermione's sudden awkwardness toward him was affecting him more than the news his new _wife_ had just given him was.

"Harry," Ginny, in fact, then said to him. "What do you think?"

"Oh, I'm really happy, Gin," he said, smiling, though he wasn't looking at her; his eyes couldn't leave the sight of Hermione's tear-stricken face.

"Well since we're on the subject of announcements and happy news," Ron then said loudly, waving his arms to gather attention in his own way; the distraction certainly got Ginny's attention, too, and kept her from worrying too much about Harry's less-than-stellar reaction to her words about their baby. "I have something to say, too!"

Everyone else already now looking at Ron, Hermione slowly looked up at him, too, before watching in seeming slow motion as he dropped before her, to one knee, a small box in his large hands appearing as if from nowhere as he knelt.

"Merlin…" she murmured to herself, feeling breathless; her tears had stopped coming, but she still felt lost in a flurry, if not an all out blizzard, of strangled and convulsive emotions and impulses and confused reactions. "Oh God…"

"Hermione Jean Granger, my friend, my love, the one I want," Ron said, his words coming out in an almost foreign sounding voice as Harry's previous words outrang them in her ears. _"...And_ _you, Hermione, look wonderful tonight, too..."_

"My 'Mione," Ron continued on in reality, smiling upward as he remained on bended knee before the brown-eyed girl, his fingers working quickly and clumsily to open up the velveteen ring box, which he soon accomplished, revealing a golden banded ring with a sparkling sapphire perched atop it. "Will you do the honors of marrying me, and being with me forever?"

"Yes," Hermione said at once, in an automatic, monotone sort of voice, her eyes glancing over to Harry for a fraction of a second, before looking down to Ron, whom she'd just promised herself to. "Yes, I will."

"I love you, Hermione," Ron said in return, quickly standing up to pull her into his arms.

Returning the embrace, Hermione's line of sight fell across the way, connecting with Harry's eyes as she read them for all that they said: _the hurt, the confusion, the sting and stunning, the want, the lingering desire, the absolute fact that she could be _certain_ that he did not regret brushing his lips across her throat. _

Still keeping eye locked with him as she remained in Ron's arms, Hermione finally found her voice again, saying quietly as she stared beyond her fiancé, and at her best friend instead, "I love you, too."


End file.
